The Book of Mormon

The only thing the Book of Mormon says regarding same sex relationships is found in 2 Nephi 13:9, which declares sodomy a sin. It is a quote of Isaiah 3:9 in the Bible.

Other than that, there is absolutely no mention of same-sex relationships. The Book of Mormon does, however, state that followers should follow God's commandments found in the Bible. The Bible does have more to say in condemning homosexual relationships.

According to the Book of Mormon, all the Nephites were destroyed except for the Three Nephites, who were allowed to tarry as John the Beloved in the service of Jesus Christ.

Those who remain from the Book of Mormon peoples are the Lamanites, who it is believed have been mixed in with the indiginous people of North and South America.

The Book of Mormon story begins long after Cain, and while Cain is referenced twice, he never appears as an actual character. Here is everything the Book of Mormon says about Cain:

"Yea, that same being (Satan) who did plot with Cain, that if he would murder his brother Abel it should not be known unto the world. And he did plot with Cain and his followers from that time forth." Helaman 6:27

"Akish did administer unto them the oaths which were given by them of old who also sought power, which had been handed down even from Cain, who was a murderer from the beginning." Ether 8:15

Since the Bible never mentions the death of Cain, many believe that part of God's curse upon him was that he would never die. The Bible also mentions that God set a visible mark upon Cain, so that he could be easily recognized. According to Mormon folklore (this is just rumor and tradition, not official doctrine, and many Mormons do not believe this), Cain was cursed to never die and to be recognized by his black hairy skin. According to the story, he wanders the earth begging people to kill him so that his curse can be removed.

Because when they made the current hymn book in the 1980's, they either decided not to include it or could not due to copyright restrictions. It may have been in previous editions.

The current English LDS hymnbook does include other patriotic songs, such as America the Beautiful, Battle Hymn of the Republic, God of our Fathers, My Country tis' of Thee, and the Star Spangled Banner. Although not currently in the hymnbook, God Bless America would probably be considered acceptable for performance in church meetings.

I guess you will have to read it to find out, since this is a matter of opinion. The Book of Mormon contains no pornography, drugs, or profanity. It encourages high moral values and strict obedience to God. There are some descriptions of violence and war, but taken as a whole it is less offensive than the Bible, which contains more sexual references and gruesome descriptions of violence.

We don't know much about Mormon, except that he was the compiler of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon states that he was a Nephite prophet that lived from about 311 to 385 AD. He was a military leader for most of his life, beginning at the young age of 15. He was instructed by Ammaron to prepare to take charge of record keeping, then recorded the history of his own lifetime and abridged the large plates of Nephi. He passed on his recording duties to his son Moroni, who completed the work.

The Book of Mormon can be bought in many different languages because it has been translated into many different languages, so in the book of mormon that was translated into french, all of the pages are in french.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the "Mormon" church) offers some books for free to anyone who will accept them. Mormon Missionaries travel door to door around the world giving copies of the Bible and the Book of Mormon to anyone who will take them. They also have several booklets about various topics free to those who are interested.

The Church sells all books and other items it produces (including lesson manuals) online to members and the general public, and many are available for free download in a PDF format.

Mormon themed books are actually quite a large industry and there are several Mormon bookstores, the most popular of which is Deseret Book.

Check out the "Related Links" to see how you can obtain copies of Mormon books.

Between 600 BC ~ 421 BC For the Nephite & Lamenite nations.

Between 2500 BC ~ 130 BC For the Jaradite nations.

For a more concise analogy see: http://www.ocii.com/~cmeek/BoM_Geog21.htm

A color timeline chart is here: http://www.ocii.com/~cmeek/images/BoMtimeline1500_2.jpg

The word 'endure' is used 12 times in the Book of Mormon.

Many hotels in Utah have a Book of Mormon in addition to a Gideon's Bible in each hotel room. Also, most Marriott hotels worldwide have both a Book of Mormon and a Gideon's Bible in each room as well.

271 times.

15 different verses in the Book of Mormon say the phrase "come unto you", and some say it more than once! The verses are:

3 Nephi 18:22

Alma 52:11

Alma 7:1

Ether 4:14

Jacob 2:14

3 Nephi 18:23

Helaman 8:26

Helaman 7:26

Helaman 7:22

Alma 7:2

Alma 60:27

Alma 60:30

Alma 60:35

3 Nephi 17:3

Alma 61:4

The Book of Mormon was written between 600 B.C. and 400 A.D. It begins with a prophet named Lehi, a contemporary of Jeremiah, in Jerusalem. He and his family travel to the Americas to avoid the prophesied Babylonian Captivity. The Book of Mormon is a record of their decendants until the time that only one righteous man, Moroni, remains. He buries the record in 400 A.D.

Those who believe the Book of Mormon is true and not a fabrication believe that Joseph Smith was lead to the place where the record was buried by Moroni himself, who had returned as an angel. Joseph Smith then translated the record into the Book of Mormon by the power of God. The majority of the translation took place in the late spring of 1929, with the first edition of the Book coming off the presses in early 1830.

Egyptologists say that damaged portions of the original text have been reconstructed incorrectly by Smith. They also point out that the translation by Smith of the original hieroglyphics has nothing whatever to do with the actual text. Smith claimed that the papyri contained the story of Abraham and he wrote an elaborate and detailed 'translation' of the material. The hieroglyphics on the papyri themselves are from standard ancient Egyptian funerary texts and have nothing at all to do with Smith's Book of Abraham.

The deeper question is that if this material from Joseph Smith can so easily be debunked, how can anyone give credence to the Book of Mormon, a supposed 'translation' of hieroglyphs on golden tablets which are now and forever unable to be critically examined?

It appears that Mr. Smith was counting on the possibility that the meaning of the hieroglyphic text would remain forever obscure. He may not have realized that even then scholars were beginning to successfully break the code, based on the now famous work on the Rosetta Stone. Smith would have had no way of knowing that this work was being done, or he would surely have changed his approach.

There are 6604 total verses and 239 total chapters in the current (1995) LDS edition of the Book of Mormon. Earlier editions and those printed by other groups may or may not have the same number of verses.

The verse and chapter breakdown per book is as follows:

1 Nephi: 618 verses, 22 chapters

2 Nephi: 779 verses, 33 chapters

Jacob: 203 verses, 7 chapters

Enos: 27 verses, 1 chapter

Jarom: 15 verses, 1 chapter

Omni: 30 verses, 1 chapter

Words of Mormon: 18 verses, 1 chapter

Mosiah: 785 verses, 29 chapters

Alma: 1975 verses, 63 chapters

Helaman: 497 verses, 16 chapters

3 Nephi: 785 verses, 30 chapters

4 Nephi: 49 verses, 1 chapter

Mormon: 227 verses, 9 chapters

Ether: 433 verses, 15 chapters

Moroni: 163 verses, 10 chapters

The Book of Mormon mentions Korihor who was a skeptic and believed: "... there could be no atonement made for the sins of men, but every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime." 30:12 And this Anti-Christ, whose name was Korihor, (and the law could have no hold upon him) began to preach unto the people that there should be no Christ. And after this manner did he preach, saying: 30:13 O ye that are bound down under a foolish and vain hope, why do ye yoke yourselves with such foolish things? Why do ye look for a Christ? For no man can know of anything that is to come. 30:14 Behold, these things which ye call prophecies, which ye say are handed down by holy prophets, behold, they are foolish traditions of your fathers. 30:15 How do ye know of their surety? Behold, ye cannot know of things which ye do not see; therefore ye cannot know that there shall be a Christ. 30:16Ye look forward and say that ye see a remission of your sins. But behold, it is the effect of a frenzied mind; and this derangement of your minds comes because of the traditions of your fathers, which lead you away into a belief of things which are not so. 30:17 And many more such things did he say unto them, telling them that there could be no atonement made for the sins of men, but every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime. Incidentally, he asked for a sign from God, and was struck dumb by God so that he couldn't corrupt anyone else by teaching that there would be no Christ. This was about 74 B.C. ... and Christ did come, so he was proven wrong.

The Book of Mormon completed publication and was available to the public on March 26, 1830 at EB Grandin's print shop in Palmyra, New York.

Yes, in the Bible there are records of the complete annihilation of many groups of people.

The Book of Mormon does not say who the prophet Mormon's grandfather was. He does say that his father was also named Mormon, but we don't know much else about his family.

The actual text identifies the Abominable Church as a church of Satan. It exists mainly in metaphor. Religious scholars draw close relationship between the Abominable Church and the (evil church) of Babylon description used in Revelation.

LDS scholars and teachers have written that the Abominable Church is the Roman Catholic Church. Mormon Doctrine (Bruce McConkie, 1958) is one example of Mormon scholarly writing making this statement, though that comment was removed in a later edition (1966) of the book. LDS Sunday School teachers and ministers continued to make this assertion long after that retraction.

This statement, that the Catholic Church was the Abominable Church, is one of the reasons that Mormons are sometimes marginalized by the mainstream Christian community.

No. Such a thing has never been suspected or proven by serious historians, even those who believe his claims were false. Psychedlic drugs were not available or in use by people in upstate New York in the early 1800's. Those who do not believe in Joseph Smith's stories can claim that he was crazy or lying, but drug use is not a remotely probable explanation.